


Love ON AIR

by ScientificName



Category: Amazingphil - Fandom, Phan, Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF), danisnotonire
Genre: BBC Radio 1, Badumshh, Dan hates his job, Dan is a Radio Jockey for BBC, Dan needs a break, Dan was a popstar, F/M, I AM SORRY, M/M, More useless tags will be added in the future, Multi, Phil's middle name is Break, So is Phil, but phanvid inspired by a movie, i cant tag, inspired by my own phanvid, like irl
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-25
Updated: 2016-03-17
Packaged: 2018-03-15 01:07:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,348
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3432431
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScientificName/pseuds/ScientificName
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>At sixteen, Dan Howell had it all-fame, fortune and success. At seventeen, he quit music.</p><p>10 years later, Dan is working as a host at BBC Radio 1. He hates the job but it pays the bills. Till he meets Phil, fellow radio host whose show is also on the verge of getting axed.</p><p>Together, they will revive their show, fall in love and change the face of Radio 1.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> watch the trailer for this fic [here](https://youtu.be/7XZrxsXRies)
> 
>  
> 
> Edit : 15.3.16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh! What is this? A new project? It’s not like I have 10 other projects to work on or anything. I have also made a [trailer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XZrxsXRies) for this so please watch it. And like and subscribe to [my youtube channel](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3hQxO2yb4TjIar90ccXjfQ) :)

 

 

> **EXCLUSIVE: WHO IS DANIEL JAMES HOWELL AND WHY YOU SHOULD LISTEN TO HIM**
> 
> **EXISTENTIAL CRISIS (SINGLE) BY DANIEL HOWELL STILL GOING STRONG AT NO.1 ON BILLBOARD**
> 
> **DAN HOWELL’S ALBUM _CRISIS_** **SALES AT NUMBER ONE FOR THE 40 TH WEEK**
> 
> **A-Z THINGS YOU NEVER KNEW ABOUT OUR FAVOURITE TEEN SENSATION, DAN**
> 
> **THE BOY CAN SING- DAN PLAYS TRIBUTE TO QUEEN AT CONCERT**
> 
> **SWEET SIXTEEN: DAN HOWELL CELEBRATES BIRTHDAY WITH THE RELEASE OF NEW ALBUM _IRONIC APPRECIATION_**
> 
> **_IRONIC APPRECIATION_ NOMINATED FOR GRAMMIES**
> 
> **FANS OUTRAGE OVER NO GRAMMY FOR HOWELL**
> 
> **IS FAME GETTING TO DANIEL’S HEAD? [read more]**
> 
> **‘HE IS A LIKE CULT LEADER’ SAYS PARENTS OVER DANIEL’S MUSIC**
> 
> **ANGRY BACKLASH OVER DAN HOWELL’S NEW MUSIC VIDEO _MEN V/S WOMEN_**
> 
> **HOWELL’ S NEW ALBUM _PUNK EDITS_ FAILS TO IMPRESS. **
> 
> **WHAT HAPPENED TO DANIEL? FANS SEEM LUKEWARM OVER HIS NEW MUSIC**
> 
> **INSULT TO INJURY: CRITICS GIVE 1 STAR TO _PUNK EDITS_**
> 
> **POP GARBAGE? UNORIGINAL? JUST A PRETTY FACE? FIND OUT WHAT MUSIC LOVERS THINK ABOUT HOWELL [EXCLUSIVE]**
> 
> **RECORDING COMPANY SUES DANIEL HOWELL OVER SONG COPYRIGHTS AND ROYALTIES**
> 
> **MUSIC LABEL LETS GO OF HOWELL : ‘AN AMIABLE BREAKUP’, SAYS CEO**
> 
> **‘I AM QUITTING MUSIC’, SAYS HOWELL**
> 
> **WHERE IS DANIEL JAMES HOWELL**
> 
> **EXCLUSIVE: WHO ARE 1SOS AND WHY YOU SHOULD LISTEN TO THEM**

* * *

The phone was ringing. The phone was ringing and the phone was across the room at an impossible distance from bed. Dan wanted to tear his hair out. 

The music was getting progressively louder and no number of pillows over the ears was helping. He threw back the comforter and in the chill of the morning leaped across the room and grabbed his phone.

7 fucking AM. It was a Saturday but he had to go meet his boss, Aled at 8. If he hurried, he could just make a short coffee detour on the way.

Of course, it had to be the day when not just one nor two but _three_ interns from different companies were making coffee runs for the entire building. After what felt like an hour-which was just about 10 minutes really - Dan placed his order. After a moment of thinking, he placed another order as well which took another 5 minutes to make and Dan did not have to look at the time to know he was late.

Aled was not looking happy when he reached the BBC RADIO 1 office.

“I am so sorry, Aled. Look I got you a coffee to make up for it.” Dan placed the bribe on the table and his boss raised an eyebrow, but taking the offering nonetheless.

“Look Dan, on a serious note, I need to talk to you about your show.”

Oh shit. Dan did not like that tone. He knew that the audience graph for the request show he hosted wasn’t spectacular. With the internet, all traditional media viewership had decreased to a certain extent after all.  But he didn’t think it was bad enough for him to get fired over. It wasn’t like Dan loved his job working as a DJ but it was better than nothing. On the radio where people only heard his voice, he was just Dan. Dan who swore a bit(thank god for being on late), made dad jokes, lame puns and sighed a lot. Nobody knew he was Daniel James Howell, the nation’s sweetheart and a teen sensation from 10 years ago. It wasn’t the best job-in fact, he hated it on most days when he had to interact with the callers but he knew he could be doing a lot worse.

Despite that, he still did not like being a washed-up DJ from a superstar of once upon a time.

“Dan! Dan, are you listening?”

“Huh?”

Aled led out an exasperated sigh. “I am telling you that the request show is on the verge of being axed.”

“Audience graph that bad, eh?” Dan asked rhetorically, voice calm and detached. ‘This was bad. This was really bad.’ His mind was buzzing though.

“Look I do not want to fire you. I like you-”

“geez, Aled! Now, is not the time for confessions.”, Dan joked but quickly shut up after receiving an icy glare.

“As I was saying, I do not want to fire you-most days anyways-but it’s not always up to me. The higher-up bosses want my head if things fail and your show is failing right now.”

“Boss, I get that but really they must understand that nobody really listens to the radio anymore. What can I do-”

“I don’t know and that is why you are here. Do something about it! Your audience is at a 4% right now. Bump it to a 2 figure at least. C’mon. Then I can have room to talk to the bosses as well.”

Dan sighed. If getting a 2 figure was so easy, he wouldn’t be stuck at 4%. Giving him more time was just prolonging the inevitable.

“Even if I double my current viewer rate, it is still a single digit! Can’t you talk to them about it. Make them understand.” Dan tried reasoning once more.

“You have 3 months before the annual data comes in. If you can’t change these figures by then, I can’t help you further, Dan. Don’t think of this as a personal attack. Your show isn’t the only one with the axe threat, okay? Get your head around it. I know you were big back in the day and-”

“OKAY! I get it! Bump the figures and I am not fired. Got it. I am off now to sell my soul to the devil because I don’t know how else I can do it.” Dan blurted over Aled. He did not want to hear about his hay days. He picked up his coffee and walked out towards the door.

As he pushed the door open and stepped out, he heard his boss call out to him, “I have faith in you, Dan. I know you will think of something.”

“Devil. Soul.” Dan shouted back, without a glance and let the heavy wooden door close behind him.

“URGH!!!!” The angry grunt wasn’t as satisfying as Dan thought it would be. He only got weird looks his way that he shrugged off easily. Years of practice had paid off.

“What am I going to doooo..?” Dan moaned as he sunk down on the couch in the office lobby; a few people passed by, most of them paid him no attention. He rubbed his face and sighed once more. He was sighing a lot. But, Aled had said that there was another show about to get axed too. Maybe, if luck would have it, the bosses would pick that show over his and everything would be fine. Oh god, of course it wouldn’t! When was luck ever on his side, anyways.

‘Wonder which show it is.’ Dan, wondered but slapped himself before chiding himself, ‘focus on your fucking self, you moron!’

* * *

“Definitely not selling my soul to the devil. Not worth it.” Dan mumbled as he sunk further back into his couch. If anybody had looked at his search history at given time, they would think he was into some serious dark voodoo stuff. Hey! Desperate times call for desperate measures.

Dan opened a new word document and stared at the bright, blank screen. He typed in carefully.

**_Ideas to save my literal ass from the figurative fire_ **

He stared at the 10 words, 44 characters and sighed loudly. He might have to go look at that crossroad demon deal thing again after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter fucking wrote itself. I am quite happy with how it turned out. Please let me know what you guys thought. I really love reviews (don’t we all!) but really, comments are my fuel. The more fuel I have, faster I run! :D
> 
> [YOUTUBE](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3hQxO2yb4TjIar90ccXjfQ) | [SHOP](http://www.redbubble.com/people/sumibirds/shop) | [TUMBLR](http://scientific-name.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Also, there is bound to be mistakes because I posted this in quite a haste. I will look it over later(if I am not too lazy.lol)


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I am little piece of shit. But, I have a good reason for not updating. Real life is a b i t c h. Its been months since I posted this story, I am aware but I didn’t have the heart to abandon this story; I just couldn’t do it since I get such encouraging reviews on this ONE chapter sporadically even to this day. 
> 
> However, since I have been away for quite some time now, I have several other stories to update, which means updates for this story will be _really_ slow.
> 
>  **Tl;dr** I suck. You all, on the other hand, are awesome!
> 
> watch the trailer for this fic [here](https://youtu.be/7XZrxsXRies)

Mothers were so protective, so instinctive when it came to their children and nobody could convince Dan otherwise. Dan Howell, age 27, probably working his last days as a washed up DJ at BBC Radio 1 could vouch for this. Mothers were too intuitive when it came to their children and Dan really hated that fact.

“Dan, are you eating alright? You don’t sound very well. Do you have a cold? I heard there is a flu going round-”

“Mum! For the last time! I am absolutely fine, just a little tired at most.” Dan stopped his mother pleadingly mid-sentence. He was very familiar with this routine but could never really stop himself from getting annoyed. He was getting annoyed too much these days. Maybe it was the stress. Maybe his mom was right and he had a flu, a flu that made him very very susceptible to irritability.

“But, honey, you haven’t been home in so long. Maybe it will be a good thing-”

“I was home last month!” Dan groaned and heard his mother sigh.

“Oh, my baby boy, you haven’t been home for almost a year now.” His mum sounded close to bursting into tears and Dan suddenly felt the guilt pool in his stomach. Guilt was his least favourite feeling of all; well, guilt and realizing there was no more ice-cream in the fridge after a day of shitty work. But right now, guilt would definitely win.

“I am sorry, mum. It’s just all very overwhelming, okay? I don’t think I am happy and I probably hate my job but I literally do not know what the fuck I am supposed to do about it since there isn’t anything I am good at. I mean look at my music career. Look what happened to that. I mess everything up. I am a spaz. I am probably going to get fired from my current job. I thought I could make a difference but now, I am feeling so insignificant? I just feel so tired. I don’t know if I am even unhappy. I am just fine and I don’t want to disappoint you and dad and myself but I don’t know what’s happening.” Is what Dan wanted to say yet he settled simply for, “I guess I will try to be home more often. Look mom, I have to go now, okay? Bye.”

And he hung up.

Tossing the phone aside, he flopped back on his bed. Staring at the white ceiling with plaster peeling off from the corner above him. That was probably a metaphor for his life. He was barely hanging on and slowly disintegrating. He closed his fist and raised it over his head. He splayed his fingers and gazed at the chipping plaster through the slates of his finger, shadow of soft grey in slats over his face. What was his life? Since when was this his life?

Alone, single, and only a mere dot in the matrix of the world’s existence, too small to make a difference, too small. Christ! He was having an existential crisis alongside a quarter-life crisis. Just perfect.

The weekend passed by in a cocktail of quarter-life and existential crisis. Dan was still without any ideas. He was dreading going for work that evening. He still had no clue what to do about his listeners. Maybe he could swear less? Not that his listeners would care.

Dan hosted an hour of a music request show mixed in with some fun music trivia and facts. Mondays through Thursday, the songs were requested through email, text messages and on Friday, he took in live requests from callers. He hated Fridays for the very reason. Not that he hated people (okay, he hated people on a general basis) but being so late at night, the callers were either insomniacs, drunk or people who were clearly high off their tits. God, he hated Fridays with a passion.

When he entered the office on Monday, his producer, Victoria was already there. She was there on most days to check up on what he said. In the past, he had gotten in trouble numerous times for saying things he shouldn’t have. Usually, it was unintentional product placement and inappropriate swearing. Just because he was on late didn’t mean he could really truly swear though. Nowadays, he just found more creative ways to swear. However, no amount of _frick, frack_ or _fudge_ could truly stand in for the good ole fuck.

“-sold more records than Elton John. Now, the last song for the evening is requested by bonglover23...” Dan had to suppress the sigh as he said it. “ _bonglover23_ has emailed saying he would like to dedicate the next song to Mina, Karmic and all the gears that keep him running. So, as a final parting we have Redemption by Bob Marley. Good Night. This was me Dan and with this I will be signing off. See you tomorrow!”

Once the song was safely playing, Dan removed his headphones and sighed really loudly. Oh god. _Bonglover23_ wasn’t even the worst thing to happen that evening.

Since his mind was constantly on the inevitability of getting fired, he had made some really stupid errors during the show - playing Britney Spears in the middle of his own monologue, playing the wrong track, leaving the microphone on so people could clearly him sighing dejectedly during the show; those were just the highlights.

When he got out of the studio, Victoria patted him on the back sympathetically.

“I know Aled talked to you about it already but we don’t want to lose you, Dan. I know you can do it.” She told him before going back to talk to Stacy, the sound checker.

The slight ounce of happiness from Victoria’s encouragement faded away pretty soon when he realized he couldn’t find his oyster card in his wallet. He was absolutely sure he had placed it back but the limited Olympics oyster card was nowhere to be found. In the dead of night, he had the expensive choice to take the cab or dangerous choice of walking back home.

“I am so going to get mugged.” Dan groaned. Standing outside the BBC building, in the chill of the night, he realized his life was going all so horribly. He eyed the empty can on the street and on a whim, kicked it, only to regret it a second later when it ricocheted off a man’s head.

“WATCH IT, YOU TWAT!” the burly man yelled and Dan cringed.

“FUCK FUCK I AM SORRY IT WAS AN ACCIDENT I AM SORRY! DON’T KILL ME!” Dan screwed his eyes shut and yelled into cold London air, waiting for the inevitable fight he wasn’t going to win. When Dan didn’t feel the heavy sting of a punch, he peered his eyes open. The burly man sneered at him before picking the can and throwing it to the side derisively. The burly continues his walk with a huff.

Meanwhile, muttering at his ill luck, Dan practically _ran_ in the opposite direction of the man, which was the complete opposite direction to his own flat but he needed to put maximum distance between them right now - for his own sake.

Too busy staring at the innocent ground, he didn’t notice when he collided into another mass of body and fell flat on his ass. Some part of him brain wondered if the man he had kicked with a can had teleported in front of him somehow but on a closer look, it was a completely different man. This night was going splendidly for Dan is what it was.

“Hi, you alright there?” asked the stranger, who was looking at him with a concerned expression.

“Yeah, I am. Yeah, I am fine.” Dan responded, already embarrassed to be caught like this. Okay, this man didn’t look like he was going to kill Dan. Unless serial killers nowadays wore Pokémon Tshirts.

“You sure? You don’t look very good. I mean, are you okay?” The stranger’s concerned expression was still there, but underneath was an embarrassed edge to the smile. Dan was the one who should be drowning in embarrassment. Jesus. Dan was a six foot three inch tall man who just got toppled down.

Trying to look at anywhere but at the kind stranger’s face, Dan’s eye caught the BBC Radio 1 pass hanging around the stranger’s neck which eased him slightly. A fellow BBC employee then. Or maybe it was a fellow BBC employee who moonlighted as a serial killer. Dan was going to die. He could already imagine the headlines for the next morning.  
**FORMER POPSTAR DANIEL HOWELL KILLED BY SERIAL KILLER**

Or it could just be a small blurb on page 13,

**BBC EMPLOYEE KILLED BY SERIAL KILLER.**

“How come I haven’t seen you before?” Dan blurted out, pointing at the pass. This could be considered rude behavior. Screw that; it was rude behavior. Dan mentally kicked himself for being a socially inept spork but he was slightly curious. In his defence, If he was going to be killed, he wanted to know who his killer was.

“I am in the show after you.” The stranger said, smiling kindly at him.

Well, that was even more awkward. It was one thing not to know all the staff in the studio but another thing not to know the lineup right after his. It was disrespectful. But, how did the man know Dan?

“Wait, how do you recognize me?” Dan demanded, curiosity mingled with suspicion that wasn’t really warranted.

“Well, you are Dan Howell. And, your show is before mine?” The man looked at him strangely. “I just told you.”

Oh yeah, Dan didn’t have a reply to that. If this BBC employee didn't kill him, he himself would.

The stranger was still talking since Dan could see the lips moving but he wasn’t really listening. Dan was even more of a socially inept spork tonight.

“Oh yeah, hahah.” Dan tried to awkwardly laugh off the fact he wasn’t really listening. “I am Dan by the way. My show is on 1am.”

Dan wanted to smack himself in the forehead because did he just state the already obvious?

“Well, you knew that...” Dan attempted to pass it off as a joke but when the other party didn’t laugh, he just felt awkward.

“It’s not terribly bad the show, you know despite the drunk and high callers.” Dan added quickly, trying to recover. “Sometimes, you get these interesting callers with a profound insight to life.”

What Dan didn’t add was that these callers usually belonged to the _high off their tits_ category.

“Atleast you have people to talk to, Dan. I just talk to myself for half an hour and read out the weird news and facts I find on the internet.” The stranger mused. “Maybe people would be interested if it was just a music show.”

Dan shook his head and interjected, “Oh trust me! that really isn’t popular either. I run a music request show and my audience graph is a straight line.”

Dan didn’t know what prompted him to add to it further but he pinched his thumb and forefinger together and said, “I am this close to getting fired.” 

What Dan didn’t expect was a surprised expression, “You too?”

“I am Phil by the way.” The stranger- no, Phil extended his arm and Dan shook it firmly.

“So, you are the guy I have been praying gets fired over me.” Dan joked but immediately realized how horrible that joke was, even to his own ears. “I am so sorry about that-”

To his surprise, Phil started laughing.

“I might have been wishing for a raid of scorpions on your bedroom as well.” Phil replied cheerfully and Dan genuinely laughed at that. That was clearly something Dan had never heard before.

The silence in the cold London night was broken by a phone ringing and Dan heard Phil mutter a series of curses.

“That was Victoria, umm I was already running late today and Julian only does the first half of the show when I am late.” Phil replied, apologetically and then gave a heartwarming smile. “It was nice to literally bump into you, Dan. I will see you around.”

Dan nodded and watched the big mass of a man run in the direction of the BBC studio.

If Dan was lucky, this Phil person would get fired over him. Dan decided that the plummet in his stomach was all but guilt. Dan refused to feel guilty.   
 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love comments! *hint hint*:)

**Author's Note:**

> [Youtube](https://m.youtube.com/channel/UC3hQxO2yb4TjIar90ccXjfQ?) || [Twitter](http://twitter.com/sumilogy) || [Etsy](https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/Sumilogy?ref=hdr_shop_menu)


End file.
